Latest news with #BanffCentreforArtsandCreativity
CBC
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Ontario writer Canisia Lubrin wins $208K Carol Shields Prize for Fiction
Canadian writer Canisia Lubrin has won the 2025 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction. The $150,000 U.S. ($207,582.64 Cdn) prize recognizes the best fiction book by a woman or non-binary writer from the U.S. and Canada. It is presently the largest international literary prize for women writers. The winner will also receive a five-night residency at the Fogo Island Inn in Newfoundland. Lubrin is honoured for her book Code Noir, which was also shortlisted for the 2024 Atwood Gibson Fiction prize. The Code Noir, or the Black Code, was a set of 59 articles decreed by Louis XVI in 1685 which regulated ownership of slaves in all French colonies. In Code Noir, Lubrin reflects on these codes to examine the legacy of enslavement and colonization — and the inherent power of Black resistance. The inherent power of resistance: How Canisia Lubrin's debut novel Code Noir reflects on postcolonial agency Lubrin is a Canadian writer, editor and academic who was born in St. Lucia and currently based in Whitby, Ont. Her debut poetry collection Voodoo Hypothesis was longlisted for the Gerald Lampert Award, the Pat Lowther Award and was a finalist for the Raymond Souster Award. Her poetry collection The Dyzgraphxst won the 2021 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. It also won the 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize and was a finalist for the 2020 Governor General's Literary Prize for poetry. The 2025 jury was chaired by American writer Diana Abu-Jaber. The other jury members are Canadian authors Tessa McWatt, Kim Fu and Norma Dunning and American author Jeanne Thornton. " Code Noir contains multitudes. Its characters inhabit multi-layered landscapes of the past, present and future, confronting suffering, communion, and metamorphosis. Canisia Lubrin's prose is polyphonic; the stories invite you to immerse yourself in both the real and the speculative, in the intimate and in sweeping moments of history," said the jury. "Riffing on the Napoleonic decree, Lubrin retunes the legacies of slavery, colonialism, and violence. This is a virtuoso collection that breaks new ground in short fiction." The four remaining finalists included Pale Shadows by Canadian novelist Dominique Fortier, translated by Rhonda Mullins, along with American titles All Fours by Miranda July, Liars by Sarah Manguso and River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure. They received $12,500 U.S. ($17,301.28 Cdn). The four finalists and the winner will be invited to participate in a group retreat residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction was created to recognize novels, short story collections, and graphic novels written by women and non-binary authors and published in the U.S. and Canada. Planning for the prize began back in 2012 after Canadian author Susan Swan participated in a discussion of the status of women in writing on a panel that included Kate Mosse, who established the U.K. Women's Prize for Fiction and Australian writer Gail Jones. It was moderated by Shields's daughter Anne Giardini. Looking at statistics generated by arts organizations like VIDA: Women in Literary Arts and Canadian Women in Literary Arts (CWILA), Swan found that women writers were being reviewed in publications far less than their male counterparts. The historical numbers for major literary awards are particularly dismal — only 17 women have won the Nobel Prize in Literature since 1909 and about a third of the winners of Canada's oldest literary prize, the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction, have been women. Shields, the prize's namesake, was one of Canada's best-known writers.
CBC
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Halifax writer Dorian McNamara wins 2025 CBC Short Story Prize for story about trans man on Toronto streetcar
Social Sharing Halifax writer Dorian McNamara has won the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize for his story You (Streetcar at Night). He will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. McNamara's story was published on CBC Books. McNamara will also be interviewed by Mattea Roach on an upcoming episode of Bookends. You can read You (Streetcar at Night) here. If you're interested in other writing competitions, the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize is currently accepting submissions. You can submit an original, unpublished poem or collection of poems from April 1-June 1. Dorian McNamara is a queer transgender writer currently living in Halifax. Originally from Toronto, he graduated with a BA in psychology from Dalhousie University. He is currently working on his first novel as well as publishing the creative newsletter Dear You. This year's winner and finalists were selected by a jury composed of Conor Kerr, Kudakwashe Rutendo and Michael Christie. "From its opening lines, we were captivated by the deft and corporeal imagery of You (Streetcar at Night), with its lush descriptions of travelling via streetcar, and all the rhythm and music that one becomes enmeshed in along the way. But beyond its flowing narrative and lyrical writing, lay the story, and that is what called to us. You (Streetcar at Night) follows a trans man's recollection of his first relationship, the narrative establishing itself as an address to his former partner, taking a novel route through aspects of transition," the jury said in a statement. "Highlighting the nuanced duality of a Before and After, connected through a frank and vulnerable interiority. It is a requiem of sorts, a call to the past, that simultaneously grounds itself in a present of acceptance and true belonging. Where one can look at a stranger on a streetcar and see a whole history in their eyes. This story resoundingly illustrates — at a time when it could not be more needed — that within everyone, outside of all our external features and presentations, is a prevailing interiority and humanity, and that trans people are not a threat. "This story resoundingly illustrates — at a time when it could not be more needed — that within everyone, outside of all our external features and presentations, is a prevailing interiority and humanity, and that trans people are not a threat." You (Streetcar at Night) tells the story of the before and after of a trans person. The protagonist reflects on his first relationship as he and his fellow riders roll through the Toronto streets at night. "Growing up in Toronto, I've always loved the streetcars. When I come home to visit my family, I find I am often on the streetcar. There's always a lot of memories tied to them, but after coming out, I got anxious that people who knew me before would recognize me then. Part of me wanted them to remember me and see me now, but another part of me was afraid of how people I used to know would react," McNamara said. McNamara joins a long list of writers who have won CBC Literary Prizes, such as David Bergen, Michael Ondaatje, Carol Shields and Michael Winter. The CBC Literary Prizes have been recognizing Canadian writers since 1979. To be given the opportunity to share my writing with others and to be understood and to even perhaps have my writing understand others is an incredible gift. "Winning the CBC Short Story Prize is a monumental honour, one that still feels beyond me. Getting the news, I felt all the joy in my body well up in my throat and I did not know whether I was laughing or crying. Writing for me is a practice of trying to understand and often making peace with my inability to do so, be it regarding myself or others," said McNamara. "To be given the opportunity to share my writing with others and to be understood and to even perhaps have my writing understand others is an incredible gift. I am so grateful for being given the chance to further my process and dedicate myself to my practice." The other four finalists are Vincent Anioke of Waterloo, Ont. for Love is the Enemy; Trent Lewin of Waterloo, Ont. for Ghostworlds; Emi Sasagawa of Vancouver for Lessons from a peach and Zeina Sleiman of Edmonton for My Father's Soil. They will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts. The longlist was compiled by a group of qualified editors and writers from across Canada from more than 2,300 submissions. The readers come up with a preliminary list of approximately 100 submissions that are then forwarded to a second reading committee. It is this committee who will decide upon the 30ish entries that comprise the longlist that is forwarded to the jury. The jury selects the shortlist and the eventual winner from the readers' longlisted selections.
CBC
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Canadian writers Chanel Sutherland and Damhnait Monaghan shortlisted for 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize
Canadian writers Chanel Sutherland and Damhnait Monaghan are on the shortlist for the 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. The Commonwealth Short Story Prize annually recognizes the best piece of unpublished short fiction from one of the Commonwealth's 56 member states. The winner is chosen from the five winners of the annual regional competitions in the categories of Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, Caribbean and Pacific. As Canadians, Sutherland and Monaghan are shortlisted in the Canada and Europe regional category. Sutherland is recognized for her story Descend, about a sinking ship of enslaved Africans with powerful stories to tell. Sutherland, who is from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. She won the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize and the CBC Nonfiction Prize in 2021. Her debut short story collection, Layaway Child, will be released in spring 2026 and will include the story that won the CBC Short Story Prize. She lives in Montreal. If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the CBC Poetry Prize is open now until June 1. The winner receives $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and their work will be published on CBC Books. You can learn more here. Monaghan is shortlisted for her story Nualu Nu, about a 1970s schoolgirl who immigrated to Canada from Ireland with her widowed mother. Monaghan is a Canadian writer who spent 25 years living in England and grew up in Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador. She is the author of New Girl in the Little Cove, which won the 2022 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Award for romance. A former teacher and lawyer, her writing has been published in many different publications. The complete list of shortlisted authors for all five regions is available here. They were chosen from 7,920 entries by judges Vilsoni Hereniko, chair, Nsah Mala, Saras Manickam, Anita Sethi, Lisa Allen-Agostini and Apirana Taylor and are published in the online magazine adda. The regional winners will be announced on May 14 and the overall winner will be revealed June 25.
CBC
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
5 writers make the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist
Social Sharing Writers Vincent Anioke, Trent Lewin, Dorian McNamara, Emi Sasagawa and Zeina Sleiman have made the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist. Their nominated works are: Love is the Enemy by Vincent Anioke (Waterloo, Ont.) Ghostworlds by Trent Lewin (Waterloo, Ont.) You (Streetcar at Night) by Dorian McNamara (Halifax) Lessons from a peach by Emi Sasagawa (Vancouver) My Father's Soil by Zeina Sleiman (Edmonton) The winner will be announced on April 17. They will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. The remaining four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts. All five finalists had their work published on CBC Books. You can read their stories by clicking on the links above. The longlist was selected from more than 2,300 submissions. Submissions are processed by a two-tiered system: the initial submissions are screened by a reading committee chosen for each category from a group of qualified editors and writers across the country. Each entry is read by two readers. The readers come up with a preliminary list of approximately 100 submissions that are then forwarded to a second reading committee. It is this committee who will decide upon the 30ish entries that comprise the long list that is forwarded to the jury. This year's finalists were selected by a jury composed of Conor Kerr, Kudakwashe Rutendo and Michael Christie. They will also select the winner. Works are judged anonymously on the basis of the participant's use of language, originality of subject and writing style. For more on how the judging for the CBC Literary Prizes works, visit the FAQ page. The shortlist for the French-language competition has also been revealed. To read more, go to the Prix de la création Radio-Canada. If you're interested in other writing competitions, check out the CBC Literary Prizes. The 2025 CBC Poetry Prize is currently accepting submissions. The 2026 CBC Short Story Prize will open in September and the 2026 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January. Get to know the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize English-language finalists below. Love is the Enemy by Vincent Anioke Vincent Anioke is a Nigerian Canadian writer and software engineer. His short stories have appeared in SmokeLong Quarterly, The Rumpus, The Masters Review and Passages North. He won the 2021 Austin Clarke Fiction Prize and was a finalist for the 2023 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Perfect Little Angels, his debut short story collection, was released in 2024 and shortlisted for the Dayne Ogilvie Prize. CBC Books named Anioke as one of the 2024 writers to watch. He is currently working on a novel. Anioke is no stranger to CBC Literary Prize success. His story Leave A Funny Message At The Beep was longlisted for the 2024 CBC Short Story Prize and his story Utopia was longlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize twice, in 2021 and 2023. Why he wrote Love is the Enemy:"I was reflecting on the dual nature of love after an intense personal experience — how love can exert a pressure that runs counter to our beloved's soul, or body, or agency, or desires, arguably for better or worse. I saw the tendrils of that duality tangled up in all kinds of love that define our lives: parental, patriotic, romantic, religious — and became interested in a tightly woven story that explored and hyper-focused on these threads. I was especially proud of this story, how it feels deeply Nigerian with its focus on roots and culture and tradition, deeply Canadian with its focus on migration and assimilation and redefinition, and deeply universal with its themes on love, loss, and belonging. "The CBC Short Story Prize has been on my radar since 2021, and I was especially proud of this story, how it feels deeply Nigerian with its focus on roots and culture and tradition, deeply Canadian with its focus on migration and assimilation and redefinition, and deeply universal with its themes on love, loss, and belonging." Ghostworlds by Trent Lewin Trent Lewin is a writer of East Indian origin, an immigrant to Canada and a climate advocate, that has been published by Boulevard, december, Grain, FreeFall and Ex-Puritan. He has also been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Lewin is hard at work on two novels and numerous short stories, all of which seek to blend the literary across a variety of genres. He has a background in education and engineering/science and lives in Waterloo, Ont. In 2014, Lewin was a finalist for the CBC Short Story Prize for his story Saad Steps Out. More recently, he made the CBC Short Story Prize longlist in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Why he wrote Ghostworlds:"There is a theory that we don't encounter life from other planets because the beings there have created false realities in which they find a better existence than their real ones. Virtual worlds that are expansive and joyous and that draw them in, so that they don't have to deal with reality and thus never push outwards. I often wonder if we are heading on that track too, caught up in digital worlds rather than real ones, always looking for alternate realities to the one in which we live. I find that a bit disheartening but also a source of hope if we can harness that power in a positive way. I feel like we cling to those virtual worlds over Ontario winters, when we seldom see our own neighbours! It's one of those stories that I know I wanted to tell but went through many iterations to get to a point where it resonated with me. - Trent Lewin "This story pulled at me early on, but I rewrote it several times to find a way to bring a fairly complex message to life. It's one of those stories that I know I wanted to tell but went through many iterations to get to a point where it resonated with me. I remember having a fun moment in a coffee shop where I felt that it had finally landed, and knew right away that I wanted to share it. Having been shortlisted and longlisted by the CBC before, it just felt like the type of story that would resonate." Dorian McNamara is a queer transgender writer currently living in Halifax. Originally from Toronto, he graduated with a BA in psychology from Dalhousie University. He is currently working on his first novel as well as publishing the creative newsletter Dear You. Why he wrote You (Streetcar at Night):"Growing up in Toronto, I've always loved the streetcars. When I come home to visit my family, I find I am often on the streetcar. There's always a lot of memories tied to them, but after coming out, I got anxious that people who knew me before would recognize me then. Part of me wanted them to remember me and see me now, but another part of me was afraid of how people I used to know would react. Part of me wanted them to remember me and see me now, but another part of me was afraid of how people I used to know would react. - Dorian McNamara "I took an introduction to creative writing class in university and the professor recommended all of us submit to the CBC Short Story Prize. I ended up submitting a short story for the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize and decided I wanted to submit another one this year." Emi Sasagawa is a settler, immigrant and queer woman of colour, living and writing on the traditional, ancestral and stolen territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and Selilwitulh Nations. Sasagawa's debut novel Atomweight was selected by CBC Books as one of the works of Canadian fiction to read in the first half of 2023 and dubbed by The Tyee as "a propulsive exploration of growth and becoming." The novel is an invitation for readers to reflect on their intersectional identity, through privilege and power, and oppression and marginalization and reimagine how we may take up space and hold space for others. Sasagawa was also a finalist for the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize for her essay Dad's the Word. Why she wrote Lessons from a peach:"I was six years old when my grandfather died of cancer. I remember struggling to make sense of it — all my assumptions about safety and permanence painfully contradicted by his glaring absence. As a biracial person, I've had to navigate pain and loss through (sometimes seemingly competing) traditions. I wanted to write a story that reflected that tension, told from the perspective of a young girl, whose notions of who she is and how she grieves are still being formed. As a biracial person, I've had to navigate pain and loss through (sometimes seemingly competing) traditions. I wanted to write a story that reflected that tension. "After being shortlisted for the CBC Nonfiction Prize last year, I felt emboldened to submit a short story. Despite having published a novel, I still consider myself a nonfiction writer, so I needed the extra encouragement to submit this piece." My Father's Soil by Zeina Sleiman Zeina Sleiman is a Palestinian Canadian writer. She was born in Abu Dhabi and grew up between Montreal, Ottawa and Lebanon. She has a PhD in politics and works in the post-secondary sector. She is a former mentee in Canada's Writers' Union BIPOC connect program and is a recipient of grants and awards from the Silk Road institute, Canada Council for the Arts and the Edmonton Arts Foundation. Her debut novel, Where the Jasmine Blooms is out April 22, 2025. 71 Canadian fiction books to read in spring 2025 Why she wrote My Father's Soil:"The story was inspired by conversations I've had with various family members over the last two years, but mostly my dad. I've noticed that, as a member of the younger generation of the Palestinian diaspora, we cope and understand the situation back home differently and this story was written to highlight that a bit and to make sense of it all. I've noticed that, as a member of the younger generation of the Palestinian diaspora, we cope and understand the situation back home differently and this story was written to highlight that a bit and to make sense of it all. - Zeina Sleiman "It was a close friend of mine who encouraged me to write a story based on the conversations I had shared with her. And when I finally did, I sent it to her and another close person to me and they both shed tears at the end. That's when I felt like there was something in this story and decided to submit it to the CBC Short Story Prize."
CBC
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Personnel Unknown by John Sudlow
Social Sharing John Sudlow has made the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for Personnel Unknown. The winner of the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and their work will be published on CBC Books. The four remaining finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books. The shortlist will be announced on April 10 and the winner will be announced on April 17. If you're interested in other CBC Literary Prizes, the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize is currently accepting submissions. You can submit an original, unpublished poem or collection of poems from April 1-June 1. The 2026 CBC Short Story Prize will open in September and the 2026 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January. About John Sudlow Born and raised in Toronto, John Sudlow has an Anglo-Irish background. A father of two adult children, he and his wife live in Oakville, Ont. He studied literature at York University (MA). He taught English and the history of rock and roll for several years. He loves literature, baseball and rock and roll. He has participated in several writing workshops and has written an unpublished collection of short stories set in east end Toronto. Entry in five-ish words "Found song parallels man's life." The short story's source of inspiration "A trip to Île d'Orléans and the magic found there." First lines Today, in an old suitcase I had been lugging around for years, like unexploded ordnance, I found Viktor's T-shirt. I had the same address for twelve years. In the last 10, eight. Just spaces. But Viktor's T-shirt is a record, the objective truth about who, where and when, but silent about what and why. It's the size of a large handkerchief, red cotton, made thin by repeated laundering. The image of the chieftain's head and script, once crisp and white, are faded and worn, like what happens to coins, letters, and headstones. But I know what was written there, "Le Domaine des Sorciers" and "St. Jean." Check out the rest of the longlist The longlist was selected from more than 2,300 entries. A team of 12 writers and editors from across Canada compiled the list. The jury selects the shortlist and the eventual winner from the readers' longlisted selections. This year's jury is composed of Conor Kerr, Kudakwashe Rutendo and Michael Christie. The complete list is:
